I am a Senior Political Contributor at Forbes and the official 'token lefty,' as the title of the page suggests. However, writing from the 'left of center' should not be confused with writing for the left as I often annoy progressives just as much as I upset conservative thinkers. In addition to the pages of Forbes.com, you can find me every Saturday morning on your TV arguing with my more conservative colleagues on "Forbes on Fox" on the Fox News Network and at various other times during the week serving as a liberal talking head on other Fox News and Fox Business Network shows. I also serve as a Democratic strategist with Mercury Public Affairs.

It turns out that being a good corporate citizen is as important to selling pizzas as the thinness of the crust or the quality of the cheese.

If you don’t believe it, just ask Papa John CEO, John Schnatter.

As covered—and criticized—in this column in great detail, Mr. Schnatter decided to mix his politics with his pepperoni when suggesting that he would be cutting the work hours for Papa John employees in order to bring them below the 30 hour per week threshold that would require Schnatter to provide his employees with healthcare benefits.

It turns out, the pizza eating public did not approve.

Indeed, so serious was the reaction that Schnatter was forced to publish an op-ed piece where he sought to convince us that he never really intended to cut back worker hours but had simply been speculating on what he might do in response to the legislation.

According to YouGov BrandIndex, a leading marketing survey that measures brand perception in the marketplace (called “Buzz”), Papa John’s had good reason for concern as the pizza chain’s brand identity has plummeted from a high of 32 on election day, to a remarkably low score of 4 among adults who have eaten at causal dining restaurants during the past month.

Ouch.

Papa John is not alone in his anti-Obamacare misery.

Fast food server, Applebee’s, possessed a healthy Buzz score of 35 before Zane Terkel, CEO of one of the company’s largest franchisees, appeared on television to complain about the law and to announce that he would not be building more restaurants or hiring any more workers in response to his objections to Obamacare.

Applebee’s “pre-Terkel” Buzz score of 35 now sits at a pathetic 5.

I don’t imagine Mr. Terkel will be getting many Christmas cards this year from other Applebee’s franchise owners.

While these corporate complainers have sought to explain away the hit they are experiencing at the hands of the public’s perception, one such company is facing the music straight on. Darden Restaurants, Inc.— owner of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and LongHorn Steakhouse—has lowered its profit projections for the quarter ending November 25th, acknowledging that its bad numbers are the result of poorly performing promotions, Superstorm Sandy and…wait for it…the poor publicity it engendered by its decision to test out a plan to cut back on healthcare costs by putting more workers on part-time schedules.

Check out these rather epic declines:

Hopefully, other businesses seeking to avoid their responsibilities under the healthcare law—such as Walmart who intends to cut back employee hours in the effort to push workers onto Medicaid rolls rather than take responsibility for their employees’ health care—will get the message.

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Mandatory Automobile insurance, mandatory Health care insurance are acceptable propositions then why do we not require mandatory fire arm insurance ! Much more personal and social damage can be caused by the improper use of a firearm, thus a hefty mandatory insurance should be required to protect society and individuals from potential harm !

Rick, it is so hard to read articles like this. I’m sure your facts are correct; you have the rubber chicken graphs to prove them. However, you can’t seriously believe that companies will not make drastic changes to survive the weight of Obamacare. John Schnatter has the misfortune being one of a few brave souls to announce that the Emperor has no clothes. But he is the spearhead of a juggernaut of companies that will do exactly what you are lambasting in this article, and if we Americans want to continue to feed and clothe ourselves the way we are accustomed to, there is nothing we can do to stop it.

Interesting in the article you state it is the employers responsibility. The recent healthcare bill made it the government’s responsibility and encourages private companies to use part time workers or drop coverage. Many won’t want to but once the first co. does anyone retaining health insurance for their workers will be at a financial and competive disadvantage. You think this is bad faith from the employer, I believe it is an intentional consequence by those that wrote the healtcare bill.

“Get the message?” Then what, Rick? Change their minds and hire lots of new workers regardless of their economic contribution to the bottom line? What is the end you think you’re getting here? I’m really curious.

Corporations first and only true obligations are to shareholders. If the corporation’s returns on capital decrease, investors will demand higher and higher risk premiums, and failing that uneconomic companies will be starved of capital and liquidated. That’s the law of capital. Do you think these companies will simply hire more, and lesson learned for running their mouths? Don’t be daft. Papa John’s hiring decisions will *forever* be altered by the economic expense of added healthcare costs. In this they are like every other company operating in America. Economics trumps everything else.

What you’re actually saying is that maybe the next company will learn not to cross the great leader in public. Well, maybe so. But the ones that spoke out aren’t the only ones that will make different decisions going forward. Companies don’t even have to articulate it, or even be aware of it because their returns on capital will determine their hiring. This is how private enterprise has worked for millennia. You’re trying to make an economic point, but instead you have come off like a two-bit gangster.

Capital punishes uneconomic companies, because left to its own devices capital is rational. Politics is not. Sure, I’ll bet other companies shut up. They’ve been silenced and shamed. Then what, Rick? I am pretty sure you have absolutely no idea.

Your first paragraph makes absolutely no sense so I have no idea how to answer the question you pose. Now, I will vehemently disagree with your next statement. Corporations clearly do have a responsibility to their shareholders. However, it is a part of any intelligent and social contract to recognize that corporations also have a responsibility to those who make the business of that corporation run – the employees. If we followed your line of reasoning, we would find ourselves supporting slavery, wouldn’t we? I’m not suggesting that this is what you are proposing- I use it as the ultimate conclusion to your line of thought. Have you ever worked for a corporation? Did you truly believe that the company had no responsibility to you as a part of your agreement to deliver your best efforts in the company’s service? I have been an employee in a corporation and I have also been the CEO of a large corporation. There are responsibilities on both sides of that equation. When EITHER side forgets that responsibility, bad things will happen. Don’t miss the point, here. This is not about what Mr. Schnatter ‘said’ in public – it is what he intended to do. Had he never opened his mouth, I promise you I would have written about his actions as surely as I wrote about what he said. Why? Because I don’t buy his product which means I should not be required to subsidize his profits -and that is precisely what he has in mind. When he fails to live up to his responsibility, he pawns it off on me because I buy health insurance. For every employee he pushes off on Medicaid (the Walmart plan), I pay for it as a taxpayer as do you. For every employee that earns to much to qualify for Medicaid but still can’t afford health insurance for the family, I pay for it when their only option is to go to the ER when someone in the family gets sick. Thus, I am subsidizing Papa John’s profits despite my never having bought one of his products. Maybe you are okay with that – I am not. And from the looks of it, neither are most Americans.

Rick Ungar is better suited to mother jones than Forbes. “Responsibilities under the health care law”?

The left-wing attack campaign on Buzz against any interest that dared challenge the dear leader is well known. Ungar’s omission of that and his dishonest citation and mischaracterization of it as indicative of legitimate disapproval of those firms’ expression reflects poorly on Forbes, esp with repeatable low public-approval poling results of Obama Care.

Why Forbes published Left-wingers who missed the memo on the Berlin Wall and try to impose those policies in violation of the US Constitution is beyond good judgement. Those perspectives are de rigueur among mainstream, liberty-phobic media.